Cooking machine



Dec. 24, 1935. H T, HUNTER 2,025,685

COOKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 7, 1955 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 24, 19352 H, T, HUNTER 2,025,685

COOKING MACHINE Filed Feb. '7, 1935 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VEN TOR: bri 77 Wiz/nia;

W1 TNESSES: i

Dec. 24, 1935. H, T, HUNTER SSSQ COOKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 7, 1935 8 Sheets-Shes?. 5

WITNESSES: I N VEN TOR:

A TTORNE YS Dec. 24, 1935.

H. T. HUNTER 2,025,685

COOKING MACHINE A Filed Feb. 7, 1933 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 WI TNESSES: l N V EN TOR:

W mfwrwwimm;

ATTORNEYS.

H. T. HUNTER COOKING MACHINE Dec. 24, 1935.

Filed Feb. '7, 1955 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR: t MLU/Mgg;

TTORNEYS.

H. T. HUNTER COOKING MACHINE Dec. 24, 1935.

Filed Feb. 7, 1933 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 WITNESSES- f P@ Mgg/gw TTORNE YS.

Dec. 24, 1935. H, T, HUNTER 2,025,685L

COOKING MACHINE Filed Feb. '7, 1953 8 Shees--Sheefl 7 Dec. 24, 1935. H, 'rI HUNTER 2,025,685

COOKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 7, 1935 B'Sheets-Sheet 8 FJ M WITNESSES:

INVENTOR: ai@ BY Harm@ MFM W ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 24, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COOKING MACHINE Application February 7, 1933, Serial No. 655,553

3 Claims. (Cl. 21S-19) lThis invention .relates to automatic machines for cooking articles such' as doughnuts in hot liquor; and it has more particular reference to doughnut cooking machines of the straight-away 5 type such as featured in U. S. Patent No. 1,823,146 granted to me .on September 15, 1931, wherein raw doughnuts are successively released by a forming means to drop into one end of an elongate receptacle containing the cooking liquor, 1o turned over individually after being advanced along the receptacle ailoat on one side in the liquor; and finally ejected individually from the machine after further advance along the receptacle floating on the other side in the liquor. The

machine of the patent referred to was designed for use in wholesale bakeries to produce doughnuts in large quantities, up to three hundred dozen per hour, and accordingly entailed the installation of special service lines for supplying current to operate the electric equipment for maintaining hot the relatively large quantity oi' cooking liquor required as well as to actuate the compara-A tively heavy parts oi its manipulating mechanism.

`: My-present invention has for its chief aim the provision of a compact smaller and fool-proof automatic doughnut machine of the same general character suitable for display purposes on store counters or in the Windows of retail shops, which requires a correspondingly smaller buik of cooking liquor; which in its construction embodies simplified mechanism with light and easily actuated parts for manipulating the doughnuts during cooking and which can therefore be veryy economically operated by current at low voltage such as is obtainable from any ordinary electric light socket with consequent elimination of the special electric equipment heretofore necessary for the larger machine.

In connection with an automatic doughnut machine having the above described attributes it is a further object of my invention to/provide for the successive actuation of the forming, manipu- 'lating and advancing means in timed relation such that the machine operates continuously and regularly to produce doughnuts which are uniformly cooked and evenly browned on both sides. Still further objects and attendant advantages of this invention will be manifest from the detailed description following of the attached draw- 'ings wherein Fig. I shows a longitudinal sectional Aview of a doughnut. machine incorporating the present improvements.

Fig. Irisa plan section of the machine takenv as indicated by the arrows lI-II in Fig. I.

machine taken at a lower levell as indicated by the arrows III-III in Fig. I.

Fig. IV is a transverse sectional view taken as indicated by the arrows IV-IV in Figs. I, II and III. s

Figs. V, VI and VII are views corresponding to Fig. I showing the successive steps in the operative cycle oi the machine.

Fig. VDI is a longitudinal sectional view4 taken y as indicated by the arrows VIII- VIII in Fig. III 10 of the transmission from which all the actuated parts of the machine derive their motion.

Fig. IX is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken as indicated by the arrows IX-IX in Fig. III showing the means relied on for actuating the l5 elements by which the doughnuts are advanced in the machine at different stages of the cooking periods, and

, Fig. X is a detail view of one of the rotary cams 'embodied in the actuating mechanism. 20

' L which is maintained at the level shown, by suitable means not illustrated, the width of said re- 30 ceptacle being such as to define a single straightaway channel wherein the doughnuts indicated at D are progressed from left to right while aiioat in the liquor during the cookingV period. The

lportion o1' the `frame i2 below the cooking recep- 35 tacle I3 is closed in by sheet metal panels Il, I5, I6 and I1, which form a compartment M for the drive mechanism of the machine, while theupper portion o! the'frame is closed in at the front by a sheet metal panel I8 and at the top, sides and 4 rear by transparent panels II, 20 and 2| of glass-SAv to i'orm a cooking chamber C over the after or-l right-hand part of the receptacle. The machine is thus well adapted for display purposes, since all the manipulations of the doughnuts during 45' cooking may be readily observed from-the exto-- rior. 'I'he receptacle I3 is drainable througha Y pipe 22 at the left hand end thereof, under the-- control of a wrench-operated valve 23. As shown, this valve 2:' is accessible through a door 50 protected opening 24 in the front end wall panel Il of the' machine, and iS- fitted with e. hinged spout 25 capable of being swung downwardand outward through said opening as shown in dot and dash unes 1n Fig. r when the receptacle n 5 is to be drained. Fumes rising from the cooking liquor are drawn out of the compartment C through a vertical pipe 26 which extends downward and connects with a centrifugal suction blower 21 located in the lower compartment M and directly driven by an electric motor 28.

For the purposes of heat conservation and also to protect the mechanism within the compartment M below the receptacle I3, the latter is en- \0 cased with relatively heavy thermo-insulation 23` which extends around the receptacle sides and across the bottom. As shown, this insulation is retained by a box-like sheathing 30 of sheet metal having a flange 3| around the top thereof to abut the underside of an outward perimetric iiange 32 at the top of the receptacle I3. The sheathing is supported and held in place by means of an underslung cross bar 33 which is secured by means of screw bolts 34 that take into a pair 2o of lug blocks 35 welded or otherwise secured in transverse spaced relation to the bottom o! the receptacle substantially at the center.

For heating the cooking liquor L I employ a pair of conventional electric strip heater units 25 36 which extend side by side lengthwise centrally of the bottom of the receptacle I3 in an interspace 31 provided for them in the insulation. During assembling of the machine, the heating units 36 are slipped into the interspace 31 from 30. one end of the latter until they abut an angle stop 38 secured crosswise of the bottom of the receptacle I3 near the left hand end of the latter, and clamped tightly against the exposed portion of the receptacle bottom by means of screw bolts 35. 33 passing up through the bar 33. Electric current is supplied, under control of a suitable thermostatic regulator for automatic maintenance of the cooking liquor L at a predetermined temperature, to terminals 40 at one end of the heater 40 36, Vsee Fig. I. This thermostatic control forms no part of the present invention and has therefore been omitted from the drawings. The heating units 36 may be of any approved type capable of operating with a small amount of current at a'.

415l voltage available from any ordinary electric light socket. l

Detachably supported by a horizontal plate 4I above the exposed clear space 42 of the receptacle I3 at the left hand end of the machine, is an intermittently-operated forming device 43 capable of successively releasing individual raw doughnuts to drop horizontally into'the receptacle; and at the opposite end of the machine there is provided a delivery chute 44 for directing the cooked doughnuts, after ejection, through a discharge opening 45 in the rear glass panel 2| of the cooking chamber C, to a receiving tray or basket, not illustrated. A removable trough 46 hung to the outerl end oi the chute 44 serves to catch the excess cooking duid thrown off by the doughnuts during ejection. y

' A manipulating device 41 located at an intermediate point in the receptacle I3 serves to turn over the individual doughnuts, after iloating on one side in the liquor L during the initial stage of the cooking period, to float on the otherside during the nal stage of the cooking period. At the expiration of the cooking period another manipulating device'48 lifts the doughnuts individv ually from the liquor and ejects them througlf the discharge opening 45 and onto lthe delivery chute 44. To advance the doughnuts individually from the clear space 42 beneath the forming device 43. to the turnover device 41 there is pro-A 15: vided a progressing member 49. A Asimilar pro-l gressing member 50 serves to advance the turned doughnuts individually from a clear space 5I beyond the turnover device 41 to the ejecting device 48. As later on explained, the turning, ejecting and advancing devices 41, 48, 49 and 50 just 5 referred to are operated in timed relation such that a fully cooked doughnut is discharged from the machine for each raw doughnut introduced, the timing being such as to determine, in this instance, a capacity of approximately two dough- 10 nuts per minute for the machine.

The illustrated forming device is of a well known type consisting of a cylindrical dough hopper 5I with a tubular discharge neck 52 at the bottom. Slidable up and down on the neck 52 of 15 the dough hopper 5I is a cutter sleeve 53 having its lower edge sharpened to shear with a xed cutter disk 54 which is supported by an axial stem 55 within said neck. When the sleeve 53 is raised as shown in dotted lines in Fig. VI, there is 20 formed between it and the disk 54, an annular die opening through which the dough is` expressed under pressure. Upon descent o f the cutter sleeve 53 to the position shown in Fig. I. the extruded dough is severed,` and accordingly 25 released as a ring to drop .horizontally by gravity intothe receptacle I3( 'Ihe dough within the hopper is subject to the pressure oi compressed air supplied from a tank 51 in one corner oi' the machinery compartment through a pipe 58 which 30 extends upward from said tank to a fitting 59 above the supporting plate 4I. From thence, the compressed air is conducted to the dough hopper 5I through a flexible tube 60 which connects with a nipple on the removable lid 6I of said hopper. 35 Interposed in the piping just ydescribed is a pressure gage 62 anda regulatable -automatic valve 63 capabley of maintaining a predetermined pressure of the air. The sleeve 53 of the cutter die mechanism is actuated by means including a 4o lever 64 which is ulcrumed at the center to a depending ear 65 of the supporting plate 4I and connected by a vertical drop link 66 to another lever 61 within the compartment M. This second lever 61 is likewise fulcrumed intermediate its 45 ends at 61a to a bracket 68 on the casing oi a transmission 69 from which all the moving parts of the apparatus are actuated. At its free end. the lever 61 carries a roller 10 which engages a face groove in a rotary cam 1I aiiixed to a shaft 50 12 embodied in the transmission 69, said cam having a single rise at 1Ia, see Fig. VIII. A swingable latch member indicated at 13 in Fig. I makes it possible to operatively disconnect the lever 64 from the link 66 for maintenance of the 55 sleeve 53 in its down position to cover the annular die opening of the forming device 43 when desired or required without necessitating stoppage of the driving mechanism of the machine.

The turnover device 41 comprises a hand 14 60 l which is normally lsubmerged horizontally vin the cooking liquid and secured to a positionally xed shaft 15. At its swinging end, the hand 14 has an upturned ange 16 which normally projects above the liquor to prevent the doughnuts from 65 oating rearward. after having once been advanced to the ;osjl'pn above said hand by the progressing member 49. To the shaft 15 of the turnover liand 14 is secured, at one end, a crank 11 which iutwardly overreaches the top of the 70,

zontal extremity carries a roller 80 in engagement with a face groove of a rotary cam 8| above a shaft 82 of said transmission to which shaft the cam is secured. The cam 8|, it will be noted from Fig. X, has a depression 8Ia and a rise 8|b, so that during each revolution of the shaft 82, the hand 14 is first lowered to permit advance of a doughnut over it as shown in Fig. VI and thereafter swung upward to the position shown in Fig. V so as to transfer the doughnut inverted to' the clear space 5|. Associated with the turn-over hand 14 is a stop member 83 having the form of a 'is secured to a positionally fixed cross shaft 89,

bale with its extremities fulcrumed on positionally fixed studs 85, see Fig. IV. Crosswise of the bottom of the yoke stop member 83 is a bar 86 to which is secured a leaf spring 81. Concurrently with the upward swinging movement of the turnover hand 14, as shown in Fig. V, the spring 81 acts to raise the stop member 83, thereby to prevent the doughnut in the clear space 42 from accidentally floating into the province of the turnover and from being mutilated by the hand 14 during its back swing. l

The ejector device 48 is generally similar to the turnover in that it comprises a'hand 88 which and formed at its free end with a stop flange 90. 'I'he shaft 89 of the ejector hand 88, it will be noted, is at a higher level than that of the turnover so that incident to upward swinging movement of said ejector hand the doughnut is raised to the level of the delivery chute 44 as shown in Fig. VH. The crank arm 9| of the ejector shaft 89 is engaged in the bifurcated upper end of a vertical rocker arm 92 which is fulcrumed on a stud 93a supported by a bracket 93 reaching angularly upward from the casing of the blower 21. The lower end of the lever 92 is coupled by means of a horizontal link 94 with one arm of a bell crank lever 95 fulcrumed at 95a to a bracket 96 at the right hand end of the casing of the transmission B9. The other arm of this vbell crank lever 95 carries a roller 91 which engages the face groove of the cam 8| below the shaft 82 or at a point one hundred and eighty degrees from the roller mentioned in connection with the turnover device 41. The turnover and ejecting devices 41 and 48 are thus operated in exactly the same way but in alternation. A bale-like stop member 98 similar to the, one previously described has its extremitiesffulcrumedon positionally xed studs 99, and has attached toit, a leaf spring |00, which, as the ejector hand 88 is swung upward, causes said stop member to be elevated to the posit-ion of Fig. VII to prevent doughnuts from oating accidentally from the clear space 5|into the province of the ejector while` the hand 88 is raised, see Fig. VII. The swinging axes 15 and 89 of the turnover and ejector hands 14 and 88, as well as` the pivot studs 85 and 99 for the stop members 83 and 98 respectively associated with said hands, are all supported by an angle iron frame |0| fitting the cooking receptacle I3 and having its'lateral perimetric fiange resting on the top of said receptacle as shown in Figs. I, II and IV. This construction not only facilitates assembling of the machine initially, but permits bodily removal of the turnover and ejector devices 41 and 48 for convenience of clean- Ing the receptacle I3 from time to time, the cranks 11 and 9| lifting readily upward out of the bifurcations of theV rocker arms 18 and 92.

The advancing member- 49 has the form of a blade which extends transversely of -the receptacle I3, and which is formed atone end with an upward and outward angular extension |02. This extension |02 overreaches the receptacle at the side remote from the observer in Fig. I and is adjustably secured by means of a thumb screw |03 to the upper end of a rocker arm |04 ful- 5 crumed at |05 on the casing of the transmission 69. The advancing member 50 is similar to the advancing member 49 in that it is formed with an upward and outward angular extension |08, and like the latter, adjustably secured by means of a 10 thumb screw |01 to the upper end of a vertical rocker arm |08 also at the remote side of the machine in Fig. I, said rocker arm being fulcrumed at its lower end to the bracket at |09. The advancing devices 49 and 50 receive motion all5 ternately and contrariwise from another rotary cam ||0 on the shaft 82 through means including a pair of overlapping horizontally reciprocating members II2, whereof the inner ends are bifurcated as at I I3, I I4 for sliding guidance by said 20 shaft and the outer ends respectively connected pivotally to the levers |04, |08 at I5, I I6, see Figs.

I, III and IX. Rollers II1, ||8 on the reciprocating members III and ||2 engage the face groove of the cam ||0, at diametrically-opposite 25 points, said cam having, as shown in Fig. IX, but

a single rise at I Ilia. Attention is directed to the fact here that the cams 8| and I0 are set on the shaft 82 with their. rises in opposed relation from which it follows that the advancing devices 49 30 and 50 areoperated in alternation with each other as well as in alternation with the turnover and ejecting devices 41 and 48.

The transmission 69 is driven at a reduced speed through a belt ||9 connecting a small pulley |20 35 on the shaft of the motor 28 with a larger pulley |2| on the power shaft |22 of said transmission. Mounted on the shaft |22 within the casing of the transmission 69 is a worm gear |23 by which motion is communicated at further reduced speed 40 to an intermeshing worm wheel |24 to a longitudinal shaft |25 of the transmission. The shaft |25 in turn carries a Worm gear |26 by which motion is transmitted at still more reduced speed to a worm gear |21 on the main cam shaft 82 of 45 the transmission. The shaft 12 carrying the cam 1| for actuating the doughnut forming de'vi'ce 43 is rotated intermittently throughcoaction of a mutilated pinion |28 thereon with a multilated larger drive gear |29 on the constantly rotating 50 main cam shaft 82 of the transmission. The' ratio between the mutilated gears |28, |29 is such that a rapid movement is imparted to the cam shaft 12 once for each rotation of the main cam shaft 82 whereby, at the proper time, the cutting sleeve 55 53 of the forming device 43 is given a quick cutting motion to prevent the doughnuts from clinging to the die mechanism. A continuous supply of compressed air for the forming device 43 is maintained by means of a pump |30 whichis 60 supported by a bracket |3| secured to the left hand end of the casing of the transmission 89 and operated by an eccentric |32 on the drive shaft |22 of the transmission, said pump being connected with the compressed air supply reservoir 65 51 by means of a pipe shown at |33.I

Through setting of the various rotary cams embodied in the actuating mechanism as hereinbefore set forth, there is predetermined a cooking cyclev in which a raw formation is released to 70 drop into the receptacle I3 at the feed end by the forming device 43 as shown in Fig. I; the turnover device 41 next actuated as shown in Fig.

V to turn a doughnut previously placed thereover by the advancing means 49 and to transfer 75 it to the clear space 5|; a raw doughnut next ad vanced to the turnover device 41 as shown in Fig. VI; and a cooked doughnut next discharged onto the delivery chute 44 as shown in Fig. VII. This prescribed sequence of operations in the cooking cycle makes possible the compact construction which characterizes my new doughnut machine, the timing of the steps being such as to insure thorough cooking of the doughnuts and even browning of their opposite sides. The machine is accordingly especially advantageous in retailing establishments where a small output is desired and where the machine can be used for display purposes on the shop counter or in the show window to stimulate sale of the product.

Having thusvdescribed my invention, I claim:

l. The combination of a receptacle for cooking liquor,a jacket of thermo-insulation covering the side walls and bottom of the receptacle but affording an interspace in which the bottom is exposed; an exterior metal sheathing enclosing the insulation and secured to the receptacle; electrical heating means in said interspace; and means independent of that securing the metal sheathing to the receptacle extending through the bottom sheathing and holding said heating means against the receptacle bottom in said interspace.

2. The combination of an elongate rectangular receptacle for the cooking liquor; a jacket of thermo-insulation covering the four sides and the bottom of the receptacle with provision of a central longitudinal interspace in which a portion of the receptacle bottom is exposed; an exterior metal sheathing enclosing the insulation, and secured to the receptacle a number ofv electric bar heating units disposed within the longitudinal interspace aforesaid; and means extending through the bottom sheathing for holding said bar heating units in contact withthe exposed-portion of the receptacle bottom.

8. The combination of an elongate rectangular. Y

engaged in the cross bar aforesaid and clamping 25 the individual heating units to the exposed portion of the receptacle bottom.

HERBERT T. HUNTER. 

